Console throwing errors when trying to rename or highlight elements.

Questions & Answers
1

Suddenly found myself unable to rename objects in the hierarchy, and mousing over existing component fields often produces even more errors.

Here’s the console output when trying to rename an object:

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
UnityEditor.TooltipView.Close () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/TooltipView/TooltipView.cs:98)
UnityEditor.RenameOverlay.RemoveMessage () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/GUI/RenameOverlay.cs:335)
UnityEditor.RenameOverlay.EndRename (Boolean acceptChanges) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/GUI/RenameOverlay.cs:111)
UnityEditor.IMGUI.Controls.TreeViewController.EndNameEditing (Boolean acceptChanges) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/GUI/TreeView/TreeViewController.cs:811)
UnityEditor.IMGUI.Controls.TreeViewController.OnGUI (Rect rect, Int32 keyboardControlID) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/GUI/TreeView/TreeViewController.cs:492)
UnityEditor.SceneHierarchyWindow.DoTreeView (Single searchPathHeight) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/SceneHierarchyWindow.cs:576)
UnityEditor.SceneHierarchyWindow.OnGUI () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/SceneHierarchyWindow.cs:402)
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)
Rethrow as TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:232)
System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Object parameters) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MethodBase.cs:115)
UnityEditor.HostView.Invoke (System.String methodName, System.Object obj) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/HostView.cs:295)
UnityEditor.HostView.Invoke (System.String methodName) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/HostView.cs:288)
UnityEditor.HostView.InvokeOnGUI (Rect onGUIPosition) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/HostView.cs:255)

Appears regardless of whichever unity version or project I open.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this? Still new to Unity, so I’m a bit lost - but it’s been working perfectly for the last month.

2

Okay, for the sake of posterity, here’s the only way I could get Unity working again:

  • Uninstall Unity
  • Delete the Unity folder from the
    Local, LocalLow, and Roaming folders
    in the User/Appdata directory.
  • Open the registry and delete the
    “Unity” and “Unity Technologies” keys
    under SOFTWARE.
  • Reinstall.

From scouring the web for similar issues, it seems to be related to running the Animator with nodes that lack transitions - something I was also doing shortly before the errors started. In the meantime, I’d advise against ever hitting play if any animations have yet to be linked to at least one other node.